1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to bumper assemblies for automotive vehicles and specifically to a bumper assembly having an energy absorbing component for pedestrian impact protection.
2. Background Art
National and international regulatory and standards-setting groups have proposed minimum levels of protection for pedestrians when struck by automotive vehicles. These requirements increase the complexity of vehicle designs, both in the need to provide an effective level of injury protection for pedestrians and also in ways to meet such requirements while not impairing the appearance of the vehicle.
In general, to minimize injury to a pedestrian struck by a moving vehicle, an energy management component or substructure should absorb the majority of the impact energy early in a collision event, but effectively disappear from the system a short time after the impact.